Highlands Motor Inn Oberon

... species. If a Kangaroo or any other Marsupial is hit on the road, most Australians will pull over and check the mother to make sure she does not have a joey in her pouch before taking her off the road. the Marsupials here are really worse than deer; they jump right out in front of your car just because they were scared by the noise of it coming down the road. While this is a terribly sad truth, I find it incredible that the people care enough to actually ...

We had a lovely couple of days in the Blue Mountains, which are west of Sydney. You approach across a fairly flat area then suddenly the mountains are there like a wall and the road starts climbing with the usual mountain hairpin bends. The first day we went up first to Blackheath (1000 odd metres or about the height of Snowdon) and to a lookout point nearby called Anvil Rock where you get a fantastic 360° view of the gum-covered mountains, spurs and valleys. We ...

... this was then lit on fire. the blue flame would mezmorize you. you blow out the flame take the shot then cover the top of the glass with your hand. you then inhale the fumes inside through a straw. do this once and you will see the green fairy. we had two tragic nights that involved a drunken stumble home and the consumption of too many drinks. i have the other recipes for the shots that ...

... for victory sign (a standard pose for oriental tourists). We have reached the bottom of the inclined plane railway. Tour groups take the railway down, walk for 500m along a boardwalk with some exhibits from the old mining days and then go back up the cliff in a cablecar. Madness. We look around and then continue on the Federal walking trail. Soon the path is deserted again. We see lots of evidence of old mine ...

... also enabled us to go on a self guided tour of Nettle cave. This was pretty good too and came with an extensive audio tour on one of those hand held thingamajigs (Debs and i aren't on the phone in all the pics!). The caves also had Stromatalites, the oldest living organisms on earth. It was pretty cool, i thought they only lived in the sea. In conclusion it's definitly worth the drive (if you any interest in caves that is) just try and get there early or book ahead.

... When we actually got to the business end of the park we were realyl awestruck. The scenery is just amazing. There are so many walks, and everyone we did was stunning. on ledges 100 metres high, under ledges. Looking at cliffs. There are birds everywhere. the cicadas are deafening. The sites other than the three sisters were great because there aren't many people there, when you get to the 3 sisters, it's just tour buses and people everywhere. worth it for the view, of course!

... rocks, halfway up the cliff. Apparently he's been there for many years and the council have unsuccessfully tried to evict him many times. His hobbit like hole must have the best view in Sydney, I dont blame him for staying. The locals love him, he is part of the Bondi magic. He did invite me down for a cup of tea, but as this man has no toilet and cooks on a fire I didnt really fancy it... My best day in Sydney though was probably ...

After an extremely uncomfortable 13hr overnight bus journey from Byron Bay (with very little sleep), we arrived in Sydney and got the train to Katoomba in the Blue Mountains. After a quick power nap we headed off on our first walk along one of the mountain ridges. We started off at Katoomba Falls, which, unfortunately, were barely more than a trickle due to the drought. It was then onto the scenic skyway cable car for a short journey ...

Today I arrived at the Blue Mountains from Sydney. It's a 2 hour train ride from downtown Sydney and we're in a section of the mountains that is obviously a very small town. We got to our hostel and I wasn't expecting much, which is probably why I was so happily surprised to see a real house-like hostel. There's real furniture and even antique furniture in the rooms. There's an actual single ...

... up to the top of a big slide and hung on to an arm bar (as with pull-ups). When you let go, you "free fall" for a couple seconds, then go down the big slide. There was another scary thing called "The Guillotine". You had to put your hands and head into holes and then something would happen. Neither Silvio nor I wanted to try it! But anyway, somehow we managed to spend 2 ½ hours in there. A few things were really good. One was a completely automated (theatic ...